Costa Rica national football team
| Nickname(s) | Ticos, Tricolor, La Sele (Selección) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Association | Federación Costarricense de Fútbol | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Confederation | CONCACAF (North and Central America) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach |  Rodrigo Kenton |
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| Captain | Walter Centeno | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Most caps | Luis Marín (126) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top scorer | Rolando Fonseca (47) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home stadium | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIFA code | CRC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIFA ranking | 57 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 17 (May 2003) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 93 (July 1996) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elo ranking | 47 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest Elo ranking | 14 (March 1960) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lowest Elo ranking | 81 (March 1983) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| First international | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Costa Rica 7 - 0 El Salvador  (Guatemala City, Guatemala; 14 September 1921) |
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| Biggest win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Costa Rica 12 - 0 Puerto Rico  (Barranquilla, Colombia; December 10, 1946) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Mexico 7 - 0 Costa Rica (Mexico City, Mexico; August 17, 1975) |
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| World Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appearances | 3 (First in 1990) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best result | Round 2, 1990 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup |
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| Appearances | 14 (First in 1963) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best result | Winners, 1963, 1969, 1989 |
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The Costa Rica national football team, nicknamed La Sele, is the national team of Costa Rica and is controlled by the Federación Costarricense de Fútbol. Costa Rica is the third most successful team in CONCACAF after Mexico and the United States, and the most successful team in Central America having qualified for three World Cups, reaching the last sixteen on their debut in Italy 1990 and putting up a solid showing in 2002 where they had the misfortune to be drawn in the same group as eventual champions Brazil and third-place finishing Turkey. In 2006, Los Ticos qualified for the World Cup in Germany, with their worst World Cup finish ever, finishing 31st out of 32 teams.
Costa Rica have been CONCACAF champions three times (1963, 1969, 1989) and have won the UNCAF Nations Cup six times. The nation has also participated in three Copa América tournaments, making the quarterfinals on their last two visits.
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History
Costa Rica has a long-standing football culture and tradition. Throughout the 50s and 60s, and were very much the second strongest team in the CONCACAF zone behind Mexico, finishing runners-up in World Cup qualifying in the 1958, 1962 and 1966 qualifiers. Stars of the side in this period Ruben Jimenez, Errol Daniels, Leonel Hernandez and Edgar Marin. Currently its topscorer is Rolando Fonseca with 47 goals.
However, at the end of the 60s their fortunes would decline as other teams in the region such as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago and Canada came to the fore. Costa Rica failed to make the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying until the 1986 qualifiers.
The 1990 World Cup qualifiers represented a breakthrough. The expulsion of regional powerhouse Mexico from qualifying after they fielded overage players in a youth tournament resulted in a very open field. Costa Rica topped the final qualifying group to qualify for the World Cup for the first time. In the 1990 World Cup they would defeat Sweden and Scotland to reach the second round.
Once again, Costa Rica would reach the final stages of qualifying in the 1998 series, but fell short of qualification for the 1998 World Cup. They have since qualified for the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. In 2002 they were drawn in Group C, with Brazil, Turkey and China. They came 3rd in the group, only losing out to Turkey on goal difference, both on 4 points. In 2006 they were drawn into Group A, with Germany, Poland and Ecuador. Costa Rica played Germany in the opening match of the 2006 Fifa world cup, but they lost 4-2. Their second match, against Ecuador, was a 3-0 defeat. With Poland defeated by Ecuador and Germany and eliminated, Costa Rica played them for the fight for 3rd place. Costa Rica opened the scoring on 25 minutes, but two headers from Poland gave them the 2-1 win. Costa Rica were one of the teams who finished the group stages with zero points.
Coaching Staff
Head Coach
- Rodrigo Kenton
Assistant Coach
- Victorino Quesada
Assistant Coach 2
- Luis Diego Arnáez
Head Athletic Trainer
- Milton Rivas
Goalkeeper's Coach
- Randall Arguedas
Medic
- Dr. Gerardo Artavia
Massage Therapist
- Oscar Segura
Competitive Record
World Cup Record
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CONCACAF Championships Record
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CCCF Championship results
UNCAF Nations Cup record
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Copa América record
Pan American Games record
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Trivia
- Costa Rica is the only CONCACAF team to ever beat Mexico in the Azteca Stadium and the first team to do so in 27 years, during the World Cup qualifying round ("Aztecazo": 1-2, June 16, 2001)
- Costa Rica is the only Central American team to qualify to two FIFA World Cup tournaments consecutively, in 2002 and 2006;
- Costa Rica holds the record for most participations to World Cup tournaments by a Central American team, with three. (Italy 1990, Japan and Korea 2002 and Germany 2006)
- Costa Rica was the first (and so far the only one) Central American team to beat two European teams in the same FIFA World Cup tournament (Costa Rica 1 - Scotland 0, Sweden 1 - Costa Rica 2, Italy '90).
- Costa Rica is the Central American team with most victories in FIFA World Cup games (three in three presentations, two came in Italy 1990 and one in Korea and Japan 2002). None of the other Central American teams that have made it to the World Cup (Honduras and El Salvador) have managed to get a victory during their FIFA World Cup presentations.
- Costa Rica is the only Central American team to ever reach the knock-out stage of a World Cup achieved after eliminating Sweden. They are one of the four teams ever from CONCACAF to reach the second round (after United States, Cuba, and Mexico).
- For the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Costa Rica was placed in group C, along Brazil (eventual world champion) and Turkey (eventual third place winner). The team tied against Turkey and lost 2-5 against Brazil, however, was the only team in the World Cup to score more than once against Brazil and has been the only team to score more than one goal against Brazil since Brazil lost to France 0-3 in the 1998 final.
- Costa Rica achieved their historic 1000th career goal (Rolando Fonseca) in the 1:1 draw against Chile, in an international friendly, at the Fiscal Stadium in Talca sharing the record only with México on the region.
Current Squad
They were called for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification against El Salvador on August 20 2008.
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Recent Call Ups
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Notable Players
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Hermidio Barrantes |
Roger Gómez |
Edgar Marín |
Enrique Rivers |
Managers
| Name | Period | country |
|---|---|---|
| Luis Lucho Tirado | 1956 |  |
| Eduardo Viso Abella | 1967 |  |
| Odir Jacques | 1985 |  |
| Gustavo De Simone | 1987-1989 |  |
| Antonio Moyano Reina | 1989 | |
| Bora Milutinović | 1990 |  |
| Rolando Villalobos | 1991-1992 | |
| Juan Jose Gamez | 1993 | |
| Toribio Rojas | 1993-1995 | |
| Valdeir Vieira | 1996 | |
| Horacio Cordero | 1997 |  |
| Juan Luis Hernadez Fuertes | 1997 | |
| Rolando Villalobos | 1998 | |
| Francisco Maturana | 1999 |  |
| Marvin Rodriguez | 1999-2000 | |
| Gilson Nunez | 2000 | |
| Alexandre Guimarães | 2001-2002 | |
| Rodrigo Kenton | 2002 | |
| Steve Sampson | 2003-2004 |  |
| Jorge Luis Pinto | 2004-2005 | |
| Alexandre Guimarães | 2005-2006 | |
| Hernán Medford | 2006-2008 | |
| Rodrigo Kenton | 2008- | |
External links
Titles
| Preceded by Inaugural Champion |
North American Champions 1963 (First title) |
Succeeded by 1965 Mexico |
| Preceded by 1967 Guatemala  |
North American Champions 1969 (Second title) |
Succeeded by 1971 Mexico |
| Preceded by 1985 Canada  |
North American Champions 1989 (Third title) |
Succeeded by 1991 United States |
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International football
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2006 FIFA World Cup finalists
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